The Washington DC Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to present, Geospatial Mapping with Craig Brower and Isaac Zaworski of VRICON. Isaac and Craig will conduct an interactive discussion on all things geospatial to include, how geospatial mapping technology, along with satellite imagery, has changed the face of traditional mapping techniques as well as how the technology has become part of our everyday lives. From cell phones to satellites, we will explore how geospatial mapping has changed the way we view our world.

Please join us on Thursday, March 15, 2018 from 7pm to 9pm at the Torpedo Factory Art Center as we explore the exciting world of geospatial mapping with Craig Brower and Isaac Zaworski.

Craig Brower BIOVice President for Sales
Craig joined Vricon early in 2015, making him one of the company’s first employees. No stranger to the intelligence and defense communities, he started his career at the CIA and has held leadership positions at BAE Systems, DigitalGlobe, and Leidos. Craig also is a professional photographer whose portfolio includes official snaps of President Clinton’s inaugural ball.

Isaac ZaworskiVice President
Isaac is an engineer at heart and comes to Vricon via Urban Robotics, where he was the CTO. Isaac’s passion focuses on overcoming the challenges presented by 3D imagery data sets, and he’s done this in military theaters around the world. Isaac grew up in the Pacific Northwest and views it as one of the best places to live – we think this view is influenced by easy access to Voodoo donuts.

Paid parking is available across the street from the Torpedo Factory or you can take the free trolley from the King Street metro center. Paid street parking is available in most areas of Old Town Alexandria. There is limited free parking in nearby residential areas, but it is restricted to two hours. There are several garages within walking distance of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, too. For real-time maps to locate parking in garages, visit the ParkMe website or download their free iPhone app. Parking regulations are strictly enforced by the City of Alexandria. Parking is free after 9 pm, on Sundays, and on state holidays. Persons with proper handicapped identification on their cars may park free at any meter and are exempt from residential parking sticker requirements.

The Washington DC chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to present, Adobe Illustrator Techniques and Tips II. Our chapter Chair, Mark Jette, will demonstrate various Illustrator tools and techniques along with how they were used to create unique illustrations. Whether you are an experienced Illustrator user, or new to the application, there will be something for everybody.

The Washington DC Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is presenting an encore showing of the Computer Animation Festival Showcase. If you missed the show at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, this is your chance to catch it again. The Computer Animation Festival showcases some of the most dazzling and innovative animations from 2016-2017, many of which were presented at the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival. We will also discuss our upcoming events for 2018.

For those who are not familiar, the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a “Best Animated Short” Academy Award.

Please join us on Thursday, January 25, 2018 from 7pm to 9pm at the US Patent and Trademark Office as we showcase some of the best examples of computer animation from around the globe.

LOCATION:
The meeting will be held at the
Remsen Building (400 Dulany Street) in the 1st floor conference room. We are located 2 blocks from the
KING STREET METRO station (BLUE/YELLOW Lines)

The Washington DC chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to present Exploring WebVR with Sean McBeth, developer of the Primrose VR framework. Sean will provide a brief history of VR on the Web followed by a survey of the available platforms and frameworks. He will also discuss how these pieces all fit together. The discussion will be followed by a short demonstration on using Primrose to get started in WebVR.

The Washington DC chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH will also conduct our annual election for chapter board positions at the beginning of the meeting. All eligible voting members of the Washington DC ACM SIGGRAPH chapter were notified to nominate board members by November 3, 2017. The results of the nominations are posted below.

The presentation will cover not only an overview of After Effects, but also essential plug-ins and resources used to create compelling Motion Graphics. Additionally, Troy will Break apart select projects then demonstrate how After Effects is used to achieve some of the effects.

Please join us on Thursday, November 2, 2017 from 6:30pm to 9pm at V! Studios to hear Troy discuss the tools used by his studio to create Motion Graphics.

The Washington DC chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to present Exploring Motion Graphics with Troy Benesch, an award winning animator who is currently the Creative Director and a principal at V! Studios. Troy will discuss one of the most popular and widely used Motion Graphics tools, Adobe After Effects, and how it is used daily by the creative team at V! Studios for all of their clients; commercial, education and government.

The presentation will cover not only an overview of After Effects, but also essential plug-ins and resources used to create compelling Motion Graphics. Additionally, Troy will Break apart select projects then demonstrate how After Effects is used to achieve some of the effects.

Please join us on Thursday, October 19, 2017 from 7pm to 9pm at the US Patent and Trademark Office as Troy discusses the tools used by his studio to create Motion Graphics.

BIOGRAPHYTroy Benesch
Troy Benesch is the Creative Director at V! Studios, a creative technology firm located in Tyson’s Corner. V! Studios has been around since 1993 and has been involved in so many aspects of the creative arts from game development to augmented reality. Coupled with their strong creative talent they also have an award winning IT Services division that is leading the way in Agile and Cloud implementation. Troy has also been an adjunct professor for several years at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in their Georgetown campus teaching classes in motion graphics. For a look at his studio: http://www.v-studios.com ; and Troy’s personal passion projects in 3D rendering can be seen at his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/3danim8r/ or his Artstation page: https://www.artstation.com/3danim8r

The Washington DC Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is partnering with the Torpedo Factory Art Center to host the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival Showcase in Alexandria, Virginia. The Computer Animation Festival showcases some of the most dazzling and innovative collection of submitted works selected by a distinguished jury of computer graphics experts and specialists. SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival celebrates its 44th year as the world’s leading festival of the most innovative and accomplished computer graphics.

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a “Best Animated Short” Academy Award. In the words of CAF Director Jerome Solomon, “There’s no other stage in the world comparable to SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival.”

Please join us on Thursday, September 28, 2017 from 7pm to 9pm at the Torpedo Factory Art Center as we watch some of the best examples of computer animation from around the globe.

Paid parking is available across the street from the Torpedo Factory or you can take the free trolley from the King Street metro center. Paid street parking is available in most areas of Old Town Alexandria. There is limited free parking in nearby residential areas, but it is restricted to two hours. There are several garages within walking distance of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, too. For real-time maps to locate parking in garages, visit the ParkMe website or download their free iPhone app. Parking regulations are strictly enforced by the City of Alexandria. Parking is free after 9 pm, on Sundays, and on state holidays. Persons with proper handicapped identification on their cars may park free at any meter and are exempt from residential parking sticker requirements.

The Washington DC Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH would like to invite you to a SIGGRAPH conference recap. For those of you who did not get to go to the SIGGRAPH conference in Anaheim, our very own Kim Wallace and Roberto Ortiz will be sharing their experiences and insights from the conference! If you attended the conference, share your experiences with those who could not attend this year. Bring your laptop and flash drives and exchange photos! Show off your coveted Pixar teapot or other fun giveaways! Tell us about the cool parties we missed!

The Washington DC chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to present Troy Benesch, an award winning animator who is currently the Creative Director and a principal at V! Studios. Troy will be discussing ways to re-imagine the mundane aspects of client projects then turn them into something fun, challenging, and demo reel worthy.

We have all worked on projects for clients. While some of these projects can be exciting and “fun”, other projects can leave something to be desired. In either case, it is important to continually increase our skills sets, in order to remain competitive, by learning new techniques, learning new applications, all while staying abreast of the constant technological advances. While this may seem an arduous task, it does not have to be. We can find ways to re-imagine these tasks so they become fun and we can also find ways to get motivated in the process to learn new things while, most importantly, having a blast doing so. If you don’t feel the passion when doing your 3D work, something needs to change. 3D software is just another tool in our artist bag, and sometimes we lose sight of that.

Please join us on Thursday, June 22, 2017 from 7pm to 9pm at the US Patent and Trademark Office as Troy shows some of his recent “fun” personal projects, what inspired them, along with his approaches on handling them and how they were created.

* This will be a joint meeting with the Cinema 4D/Maya Animation Users MeetUp.

BIOGRAPHY

Troy Benesch

Troy Benesch
Troy Benesch is the Creative Director and a principal at V! Studios, a local Creative Technologies firm founded in 1993. Troy has been involved in animation since high school (pen and paper and 8mm cameras) and has taught at local colleges (Corcoran, etc.) and companies (Apple, etc.). He has garnered numerous industry awards and loves sharing what he has learned over the years through talks and user group meetings. He currently hosts the Cinema 4D/Maya 3D Animation MeetUp. He loves storytelling through his art and strives to improve his skills whenever possible. He has been an Art Director at NASA HQ for the past 11 years and spearheads the commercial accounts at V! Studios.

LOCATION:
The meeting will be held at the
Remsen Building (400 Dulany Street) at the 1st floor conference room. We are located 2 blocks from the
KING STREET METRO station (BLUE/YELLOW Lines)

The Washington DC Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to present Joey Ponthieux, EMMY® award winning professional 3D animator and concept visualization artist at NASA. Mr. Ponthieux will delve into where, and how, art and science intersect as well as what it means to be an artist or a scientist. He will explore the fine line that separates art and science, how we perceive this separation, issues of convergence between art and science, and convergence as a matter of creativity.

Please join us on Thursday, May 18, 2017 from 7pm to 9pm at the Torpedo Factory Art Center as we explore the worlds of art and science with Joey Ponthieux.

* EMMY® is a formal trademark of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (“NATAS”)

Joey Ponthieux BIO

Joey Ponthiex

Joey Ponthieux is a professional 3D animator and concept visualization artist. With a career that began in analog graphics production for offset lithography, he is an EMMY® award winning artist with 30 years of CGI production experience in the areas of Higher Education, Broadcast News, and Aerospace Research. He is currently employed by Science Systems and Applications Inc., and assigned to provide advanced computer graphics support for the Aeronautics Research Directorate at NASA Langley Research Center.

Paid parking is available across the street from the Torpedo Factory or you can take the free trolley from the King Street metro center. Paid street parking is available in most areas of Old Town Alexandria. There is limited free parking in nearby residential areas, but it is restricted to two hours. There are several garages within walking distance of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, too. For real-time maps to locate parking in garages, visit the ParkMe website or download their free iPhone app. Parking regulations are strictly enforced by the City of Alexandria. Parking is free after 9 pm, on Sundays, and on state holidays. Persons with proper handicapped identification on their cars may park free at any meter and are exempt from residential parking sticker requirements.